conduct of the masses, and of the efficient conduct of the local police. "2. In one case only was it deemed necessary to pass sentence of death; and this was done rather with a view of showing the popula tion that death might be the result of lawless violence, even though the hand which inflicted murder might remain unapprehended. This was a case where a young man was beaten to death in a faction fight between two rival sets of paddy huskers, and it did not clearly appear that the prisoners, three in number, (who were on the clearest evidence convicted by the jury of the crime of aiding and abetting in murder), had any of them actually struck the deceased the mortal blow, of which he died. I, therefore, deemed it my duty to recommend a commutation of their sentence to the Chief Commissioner, who accordingly commuted it into transportation for life. "3. In one case, that of a Government clerk, who by a long series of peculations had defrauded his employers of large sums, during a period of considerable length, I felt it necessary to pass a sentence of lengthened imprisonment and the only other serious case I have to note is that of an American (coloured) seaman, whom (having been convicted of aggravated assault, and stabbing his captain and mate on board ship in harbour) I thought it necessary to imprison also for a long period; such offences having latterly become too common in the Maulmain River. "In another case of dacoity, the prisoners, of whose guilt there could be little moral doubt, were acquitted, probably because they did not consider the unsupported evidence of an approver (the only direct testimony) sufficient to warrant a conviction." On the civil side of the court all suits below 500 rupees in amount are heard and decided by the registrars of the court, of whom there are two, enjoying handsome salaries of £960 per annum each. These gentlemen at present are neither of them professional lawyers, but when they are removed or promoted, it is probable their successors would be selected from the Bar, if any such candidates appeared. The Recorder hears and decides all cases exceeding 500 rupees in amount, without a jury (except in cases where he may, of his own motion, call in two or three experts as assessors), and there is no appeal from his finding in cases between 500 rupees and 3,000 rupees; above this latter amount an appeal lies to the High Court at Calcutta, and in matters of 10,000 rupees the only appeal is to Her Majesty in Privy Council. Two appeals of this last kind are pending at Whitehall. The Recorder can grant a new trial in any civil matter tried before him, provided the same is applied for within 30 days after decree, or within three months thereafter in suits for landed estate. The foregoing extracts will give the reader a good idea of the amount of work going on before the Recorder, and the conse quent existing demand for professional assistance on the part of the mercantile community, nearly the sole litigants in the Recorder's Courts. By the Act constituting these courts, their powers were limited to the towns and their immediate precincts, say to a radius of four miles round the centre of each town; the powers of the previously existing Commission Courts within those towns were abolished, though for convenience of the Bar and suitors, they continue to hold their sittings as before within the towns for cases arising outside the precincts. The salary assigned to the Recorder is £2,000 a year, and he is entitled to all the advantages in respect of leave, furlough, and pension, which attach to the members of the uncovenanted civil service, no small element of consideration in a pecuniary point of view. As to professional fees, they are much higher than in England. There are two or three barristers practicing at Rangoon and Maulmain, and about a dozen advocates of the court who are not barristers, but were formerly pleaders. Few if any of them make under 1,000 rupees (£100) a month; and it is within the knowledge of the writer that 5,000 rupees and 7,000 rupees a month have lately been made; in fact, in one case which came before the Recorder at the Maulmain sessions, in December last, it was stated that the plaintiff's advocate received a fee of 400 gold mohurs, or something close upon £700, for his day's work, and the case only occupied one day, the plaintiff being non-suited. This was perhaps an extraordinary case, but the writer feels satisfied that there is ample room for good men, hard-working men, and steady men; others had better remain where they are. The expense of living at British Burmah would of course form an important element for consideration in the case of a young barrister going out to seek his fortune there-as a large income is not of course so valuable where it is necessarily combined with proportionally large expenditure. A man must, owing to the heat of the sun in the middle of the day, keep a horse and carriage of his own; the wretched public gharries or cabs, which you hire at two rupees a day, being positively filthy in most cases; and he must have a house of his own, as there are no clubs or hotels. But, taking everything into consideration, it may safely be stated that an unmarried man can live respectably and most comfortablyas a gentleman and a barrister ought to live-on. 350 rupees to 400 rupees a month; while a married man with a small family would, perforce, have a considerably larger outlay to meet-say 600 rupees to 700 rupees a month. Some may think these estimates high, but when you consider that you must have a butler, cook, table servant, groom, sweeper, washer-man, &c.,-for all servants are of the male sex -in the smallest establishment-not one of them will do the work of any other servant-the writer thinks you will not be surprised at his estimate. English articles of food, such as hams and cheese, are double the English price, and a man soon begins to find he cannot relish constantly the eternal chickens of the country, though they cost only from four to five shillings a dozen. Then, again, beer and wine are dear. Allsopp's beer sells at Maulmain at seven rupees, or fourteen shillings, a dozen. Decent sherry is not to be had under 32 rupees or 35 rupees, and good brandy costs 42 rupees to 45 rupees per dozen, Of course, an economical and temperate man may regulate to extreme nicety his wine and beer expenditure; but British Burmah is not England, and there is much more hospitality VOL. XIX.-NO. XXXVIII. Z there than here. Everybody knows everybody, and nearly everybody dines with everybody once in six months or so, and it does not do for a man to be singular. Doubtless it As to the climate, let no one be afraid of that. is hot in the middle of the day out in the sun, but that is exactly where no hard-working man ought to be at that time. In his office or in court from ten to five, with the punkah constantly going backwards and forwards over his head (pulled by an officer of the court), and plenty of iced water in the advocates' chamber, a man ought not to complain of heat. If a man will only go to bed early, say at ten p.m., and rise at four, mount his horse for a six miles' trot, come home, bathe and dress, and take a good solid breakfast, without beer, and then go to his office or court, and take nothing there but a glass of sherry and a biscuit at one p.m., he will find himself all right for his dinner at half-past seven, after another ride or drive, and after his dinner quite ready to go to early bed. If a man would live in this way, it is the writer's belief that most people, with any constitution at all to begin with, might live as long, and enjoy as good health, as in England. Once for all, it is not the climate which, as a rule, knocks men up. It is gadding about in the sun in the day time; visiting and shopping when they ought to be in the office; and then the heat demands "pegs" of brandy and soda and the necessity for these becomes greater dailyand then men die, as the Irishman said, and say it was the climate. It is quite true that, some years ago, Aracan was unhealthy and feverish; and was especially mentioned on the back of policies of life insurances as one of the places residence in which, without special permission of the directors, would vitiate the policy, or subject the insured to a much higher rate of premium. This is, however, now altered, and the offices take risks of life in every part of British Burmah at the same rates. This article has run to such an unreasonable length, that observations on the systems of law administered to the different races found in Rangoon and Maulmain, must be reserved for another occasion. So many Chinese, Mahomedan, Tamul, Hindostani, and other settlers are found at other parts, besides the aboriginal Burmese, that it would be impossible within the limits of this article to describe their several peculiar customs, recognised by the law and observed in the courts; though the general spirit of procedure is in conformity with English principles, and with the legislative acts passed by the Supreme Council of India in Calcutta. There are special codes of civil and criminal procedure, and penal codes which a man might study on his way out on the noble deck of a Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer, and which can be procured in England. Further observations must, however, be deferred, and Ceylon must await another occasion. The present paper, may, the writer ventures to hope, form some guide to those who are thinking of seeking a foreign field for honourable exertion, ART. X.-MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED THE policy or impolicy of the existing law which forbids a widower to marry the sister of his deceased wife, has been for many years a favourite subject of debate with those who take an interest in what are called social questions. The subject is one on which many theologians entertain strong convictions:convictions of which they feel that they cannot yield one tittle, without being false to the cause of truth and to the best interests of mankind. The present condition of the question is somewhat remarkable. At a comparatively early period in Church history, marriages between persons in such relations were forbidden by a provincial council, and whether from growing asceticism or improving morality, the prohibition thus |